Welcome to the Leicester Bangs Blog - check regularly for arts and music news, occasional previews and lots of reviews.
Find out what's on at Leicester's Musician Venue with our daily update, and follow us on Twitter @LeicesterBangs

Saturday, 29 June 2013

Having sold millions of records around the world,
critically acclaimed singer songwriter Julia Fordham will be returning to the
UK for her first tour in 20 years.

Performing with her will be Grant Mitchell, pianist,
arranger and producer of her early hits Happy Ever After, Where Does The Time Go, Porcelain and I Thought It Was You. The set will be
filled with these favourites plus many others including Girlfriend, Lock and Key, Towerblock and
the international hit (Love Moves)
In Mysterious Ways. After living in Los Angeles for many years,
Julia is thrilled to be coming home to sing her songs again around the
country.

Early booking is advisable to avoid disappointment!

“A stylish pop balladeer with a voice that glides
easily between the languor of Sade and the smooth high notes of Philadelphia
soul.”- The London Telegraph

Northamptonshire
singer-songwriter Stevie Jones has been playing live music and entertaining
audiences for over 25 years. This special gig gives him the opportunity to air
his own material with full band The Wildfires with a line up that features his
current regular duo partner Kev Lee, Lou Short (Martin Stephenson and the
Daintees), Jake Patrick (Divine Solace). There is also a strong rumour that
long-time musical cohort Mark Gill may also appear with them too...

Friday, 28 June 2013

Making their second appearance at the Musician are
the award winning Coventry-based tribute band ‘Dark Side Of The Wall’ for an
evening of classic Pink Floyd music.

With over 16 years of live shows behind them this
experienced 8-piece line-up still wow their audiences by combining their
obvious on-stage enthusiasm with all the necessary attention to detail.

The common perception is that Pink Floyd music can be
pretty serious stuff but DSOTW are proof that it be can be great fun too with
the special atmosphere they always create during their shows.

DSOTW will be performing Pink Floyd tracks from all
their popular albums in well over 2 hours of reverent tribute to their heroes,
including all the classics such as Comfortably
Numb, Money,Shine On
You Crazy Diamond and Another
Brick In The Wall to name just a few.

If you’ve seen Dark Side Of The Wall in concert
before then you’ll know it’s a night not to be missed, as they bring their
theatre show into the more intimate setting of the Musician.

Bacon and
Rawsthorne became acquainted during preparations for their first solo shows at
London's Hanover Gallery in 1949.

The work had
been estimated to sell for somewhere in the region of £10m to £15m.

Other items
included in Sotheby's contemporary art sale included David Hockney's colourful
tribute to his home country, Double East Yorkshire, which fetched £3.4m - £400,000
more than its estimated value.

Alex Branczik,
head of Sotheby's London Contemporary Art Department, said it was a
"strong night" for British art, photography, European abstract works
and German artists.

"We
offered some great historic works of art and achieved some great prices for
them, as buyers went down the connoisseurial route - buying with intelligence
and passion," he said.

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Son of the legendary UK singer-songwriter Roy Harper,
Nick was born in London and raised in Wiltshire. Having played the guitar from
the age of 10 and surrounded by the likes of Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Robert
Plant and Dave Gilmour as he grew up, it was no surprise when Nick made his
recording debut on his father's 'Whatever Happened to Jugula?' in 1985.

Nick's talent and energy entranced Roy's fans and it
was inevitable that he would begin touring and recording in his own right. The
1994 EP 'Light At The End Of The Kennel' was swiftly followed by his powerful
1995 debut long player 'Seed' prompting The Independent to describe him as "hugely talented".

To call Nick a superlative singer/songwriter could
put his highly lauded guitar talent in the shade, and to call him a guitarist's
guitarist might slight his distinctive, soulful voice and passionate songs. Not
forgetting the wild ride that is one of his live shows - from personal
introspection to biting political satire via a charmingly caustic wit that
would make Groucho Marx proud.

An enigmatic personality and larger than life
showman, Canadian Matt Andersen has been earning fervent reaction from
audiences across the globe these last few years. Matt's sprawling blues, roots,
rock hybrid with his soulful voice and dynamic guitar style has sparked a
phenomenal buzz back home in Canada. Matt has also toured the U.S. and Europe
with America, Randy Bachman, Bo Diddley, Little Feat and a host of others.

US sci-fi and fantasy writer Richard Matheson, who
wrote the 1954 vampire novel I Am Legend, has died aged 87.

A spokesman for
the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films said Matheson died on
Sunday in Los Angeles, but no other details were provided.

In a career
spanning some 60 years, many of the author's works were adapted for both the
big and small screens.

I Am Legend was
his most successful, inspiring three film adaptations - most recently in 2007
starring Will Smith.

The novel was
considered a landmark work in the genre, ushering in apocalyptic themes to
post-WWII America.

Vincent Price
starred in the first adaptation in 1964, titled as The Last Man on Earth.

Charlton Heston
later starred in the 1971 adaptation, Omega Man.

The 2007
version saw Smith star as Robert Neville - the seemingly last human on Earth -
trying to find a cure for a genetically-engineered virus that has turned the
population into mutant vampiric creatures.

Born in
Allendale, New Jersey, in 1926 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Matheson first
began publishing science-fiction and horror stories in the 1950s.

His earlier
works adapted into films included 1953 novel Hell House, 1956's The Shrinking
Man and 1958's A Stir of Echoes.

The 1978 novel
What Dreams May Come was also adapted into a big screen version in 1998
starring Robin Williams, which won an Oscar for best visual effects.

Steven
Spielberg's first feature-length film, Duel, was also based on Matheson's short
story of the same name.

Spielberg tribute

"Richard
Matheson's ironic and iconic imagination created seminal science-fiction
stories and gave me my first break when he wrote the short story and screenplay
for Duel," Spielberg said in a statement.

"His
Twilight Zones were among my favourites, and he recently worked with us on Real
Steel. For me, he is in the same category as [Ray] Bradbury and [Isaac]
Asimov."

Matheson also
worked as a writer for numerous TV shows including The Twilight Zone, The
Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Martian Chronicles and Amazing Stories.

He penned the
teleplay Nightmare at 20,000 Feet in 1963 for The Twilight Zone, which starred
William Shatner and featured the famous shot of a gremlin peering into the
window of an aeroplane from its wing.

He was also
responsible for writing The Twilight Zone episode Steel, which inspired the
2011 Hugh Jackman film, Reel Steel.

Matheson is
credited with influencing several generations of storytellers including Stephen
King, who dedicated his 2006 novel, Cell, to him.

Matheson had
been due to receive the visionary award at the Academy of Science Fiction,
Horror and Fantasy Films' Saturn Awards on Wednesday.

The
organisation said the award would be presented posthumously and ceremony would
be dedicated to the author.

Tuesday, 25 June 2013

New York six-piece Steep Grade has been performing in
and around their home city since 2004, playing an infectious, upbeat hybrid of
rock and funk, with original songs and classic covers. Instrumentally, they
include trombone and saxophone alongside guitars, bass and drums, and their
feelgood approach provides an unbeatable, vibrant soundtrack for sunny days in
the park, driving with the windows down and, of course, the dance floor.

Their debut album “Sucker Punch” arrived back in
2006, and can still be found for sale on various sites, but for many, “Funk
Machine” will be their introduction to the group - and it’s a handsome way to
get acquainted. Their influences appear to run the gamut, from Herbie Hancock’s
‘70s funk excursions (“Head Hunters”, “Thrust”, etc.), Stevie Wonder and
Funkadelic, to jam rock bands such as Phish and The Samples.

In frontman Damien Teed they’ve a singer with a
soulful voice, with no interest in vocal acrobatics, but with ample expressive
range. The rhythm section of drummer Dylan Teed and bass man Patrick McCarthy
drive the music on, leaving plenty of room for lead guitarist Rob Maresca and
the horns of Brian Borrelli and Marty Peters to apply the punchy dynamics that considerably
elevate this 13-track collection.

They begin with “Sophie”,
its playful arrangement and positive vibe does much to set the tone of the
album, and the following number “Girl Is Suicide”
confirms our first impressions, and then adds a Santana-esque sax groove for
extra pleasure. On “Evil Eye” it’s the song that
grabs you by the lapels, and applies a little shadow and doubt; and when it
comes to the fore mentioned ‘classic covers’ their big band, brass-driven take
on Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar” is superb.